Rome Travel Forum

We have reservations in October at the Hotel Re di Roma on Via Vercelli. I know it is close to both the Re di Roma and San Giovanni metro stations.

My question is....how difficult is it to get to Rome centro, the Pantheon area, Trastevere, etc from where we will be staying? I know the metro does not go to those areas but are buses easy or is it better to use taxis?

Any advice or suggestions would be great. We also reserved in centro but of course the rate is much higher.

Thanks,
Karen

Hi Karen ,Firstly I hope you have a wonderful time in this most beautiful city.I used to live in Rome many years ago where I worked as an au pair so I know quite a bit about how to get around -and thankfully it has not changed that much !! .The metro system has two main lines ,The A line is where the Rei di Roma Station is and if you get on there it will take you to Termini.This is where the A line and B line meet so you can change there and hop onto tHe B line .If you stay on till Pyramide this will be the nearest you can get to Trastavere and the area over the Tibere .You can get any bus and it will take you into the area (the bus stops will give more info).If you want to see the Pantheon then stay on the A line and get off at Piazza di Spagna (its just called Spagna on the metro) You can walk a relatively short distance through some lovely streets which it would be a pity to miss.You cross the Via del Corso (which is the main pedestrian road) and you will find the Pantheon signposted from there .It should take you only 10 minutes to walk there from Spagna.I would advise against getting taxi's.Its likely that they will take you on a 'colourful' detour which will cost more ,and secondly you will miss out on so much.Once you get there you will quickly see how close everything is and that walking from one sight to another is fun and interesting .You can never be bored in Rome !!! I hope you have a wonderful time and that you let us know how you got on .If you check my travelogue in Italy you will find something I wrote shortly after my arrival in Rome for the first time which might give you some idea of how wonderful and inspiring a place Rome is.Take care ,Puddle

Hello,

I believe there is a tram ( #3) from the Porta san giovanni station that will take you more directly to the colosseum area, instead of riding the metro to the main station and then backtracking on the other line. From the colosseum area it is not a far walk to the pantheon or a far cab ride to trastevere. Check out the guide book transportation pages to see the routes of the metro as well as some of the trams.

Donna

Well, Karen, as noted, you could take the Metro up to Termini, then switch to the other line to go the 2 stops (I think) to the Colosseum, which is the southern end more or less to the ancient center. But, of course, Via Vercelli is only 2.5 kilometers from the Colosseum, and you could walk this in 35 minutes, passing by St. John Lateran, San Clemente, and other interesting things along the way.

Buses do go everywhere, but you will find at certain times of the day, that you can walk faster in the city center than the buses run (er, crawl). You are quite close to the Via Appia Nuova, and I have to assume that there are all sorts of buses up the Appia to the center (you might look at the Transportation Tips on my Rome page on how to calculate bus routes using the ATAC website).

Rome is certainly a city made for walking, so as long as you get to the general area, you can walk the rest of the way. Only Trastevere presents a tiny problem, in that it's a couple of kilometers from the Trastevere rail station up to the part of Trastevere that you actually want to visit...however, once you are at the north end of the Circus Maximus (on the other side of the Palatino from the Forum), the old part of Trastevere is just across the river.

I never had a taxi steer me wrong, although that may have been because I was a foreign resident who spoke some Italian rather than a tourist (foreign residents are treated differently by the locals). I would save the taxi, though, for the end of a long day when you are on the other side of town, and can't stand the though of walking for another couple of kilometers or spending an hour getting somewhere on the bus...taxis in Rome are not that expensive when used in the exceptional case...

Bill

Central Rome is extremely walkable (and, as Bill says, it's often much quicker to walk).

Get a 3-day (or more) travel pass from the booths at Termini bus station. They cover buses, trams, Metro and even the suburban trains (e.g. to Ostia Antica, which is unmissable imo).

The VT Rome pages have lots of info and ideas for things to see/do/ places to eat etc etc.

Enjoy Rome...it's a wonderful city (even if your feet do ache at the end of each day)!

I've never had a problem with a taxi in Rome and there are times when a taxi is the only option if you're wise e.g. as Bill says, at the end of a long day or when you are arriving or leaving Rome with all your luggage and need to make the exercise as hassle free as possible. The metro is great as well, just so long as you are very very careful and sensible with your valuables. Having said all that I must confess that on my third trip to Rome, the penny finally dropped about distances in the city (I was always a bit slow!!!!). When you travel around by metro, it can be very deceiving. You will feel that to get from one place to another is quite a distance, when it actual fact it is not. Believe those who tell you that Rome is a very walkable city, because it is. I remember the first time I went to the Vatican from Termini and my travelling companion, who was at that time on his ninth visit to Rome, had a great laugh at my expense. The train ride to the Vatican seemed quite long to me and after we left the Vatican to return to our hotel near Termini, he just kept walking, all the time showing me various things along the way and leading me to believe that at any moment we would hop on a bus or catch a train back to the hotel. When my poor tired feet could take no more, I was forced to ask (more like scream) when are we going to get the bus or train. He told me that we would just go down around the next corner to the bus. When we got around the next corner we were, in actual fact, back at the hotel and the joke was on me.
Just get a good map and walk, you'll really enjoy the esperience.

Thank you!

The hotel suggests to catch the metro A from Re di Roma to Barberini and then it is an easy 15 minute walk to the Pantheon.

How would you clasify the area near Re di Roma? Is it a nice area to stay for a few days? The savings from the hotel we booked in centro is quite substantial.

Thanks,
Karen

"The hotel suggests to catch the metro A from Re di Roma to Barberini and then it is an easy 15 minute walk to the Pantheon.

How would you clasify the area near Re di Roma? Is it a nice area to stay for a few days? The savings from the hotel we booked in centro is quite substantial. "

Well, they're right about the Pantheon...except for one thing - it's not an easy walk because you'll be constantly distracted by all the other wonderful sights in Rome(!) ;-) Let's see...you'll pass by the Tritone fountain, the Trevi fountain, cross the Via del Corso (a long street by Rome standards), pass just south of the Piazza Colonna, and no doubt walk past umpty bumpty bars, restaurants, places to shop, etc... ;-)

I am sorry that I cannot give you too many details about the Re di Roma area, as I lived to the west of the city center. However, on one of my business trips, we stayed south of town and drove up the Via Appia several times into the center...this area (up where you are) is a busy residential area with all the normal things that accompany that - local shopping, grocery stores, bars, restaurants, etc. It is only to the south that the Via Appia breaks out into the 'country' (and that's more the Via Appia Antica, anyway).

Bill